College of Nursing
Department of Nursing Science
Medical College of Georgia
Department of Surgery: Trauma/Critical Care
The Graduate School
Interim Dean
Dr. NeSmith is Chair of the Department of Physiological and Technological Nursing and Associate Professor in the College of Nursing with adjunct status in the AU Graduate School. Dr. NeSmith has more than 30 years of experience in trauma, emergency, and disaster nursing, with nursing leadership roles in these areas at the local, regional, and national levels. Having obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree with a focus on translational and interdisciplinary research, Dr. NeSmith’s federally-funded grants have focused on the effects of lifetime chronic stress on the inflammatory response and how it impacts healing and vulnerability to complications following acute life-threatening injury. Dr. NeSmith’s research will lead to advances in tailoring individual treatments to prevent and improve acute outcomes of trauma. Dr. NeSmith is also very active at the state and national levels as an advocate nursing research and faculty development. She was recently awarded more than $399K from the University System of Georgia to launch a research-based, interdisciplinary nursing faculty expansion program. In collaboration with her research team, Dr. NeSmith has multiple trauma-related publications and nationally-presented abstracts, and co-founded the Trauma Interdisciplinary Group for Research (TIGR). Together with her TIGR co-founder, Dr. Regina Medeiros, Dr. NeSmith developed and authored publications and national presentations which focus on the implementation of their PhD/DNP Operational Collaborative (P-DOC) Model of clinical and research collaboration among doctorally-prepared nurses.
